Jaclyn’s Review: Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon

Drums of Autumn (Outlander #4)
written by Diana Gabaldon
published by Delta, 2001

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Did I enjoy this book? Yes, of course I loved this book! This book finds us in the American colonies. Jamie and Claire have found young Ian, rescued him from all of the craziness in Book 3, and now need to figure out how to live life in the Colonies. Since Jamie seems to be well connected anywhere he goes, he naturally has dinner with the Governor of North Carolina and is granted a huge tract of land to settle, thus making him one of the most important people in the area. We are introduced to life in the Colonies in the late 1700s: plantations, slaves, Native Americans, etc. The author puts Jamie and Claire each into some pretty extreme situations. On the one hand, they are incredibly realistic for the time period. On the other hand, it seems like she just needed something to happen, so she gave them some life-threatening “stuff” to work through to illustrate the dangers of the wilderness and time period. The descriptions are amazing; the author really has a gift for bringing scenery and people to life. Even if you hate the plot, read these books for her artful descriptions.

This book branches out (again!) by expanding on the plot for Brianna and Roger Wakefield. If I’m being honest, I struggled with this. Brianna is one of the least likeable characters I have ever read. I understand that the author is branching out the plot to continue the series. How much can we really read about the infallible love between Jamie and Claire? The author needed to introduce something else to keep the series moving forward; I get it. I just don’t like Brianna. Roger, on the other hand, is delightful. In short, Brianna goes back in time and has a surprisingly easy journey to find her parents–pretty improbable, but OK. She gets into all sorts of trouble through this process and we spend the rest of the book hearing about it. Ugh. Roger realizes what Brianna did, decides that he loves her and has to rescue her, so he goes back in time too. Once there, he decides to go by Roger MacKenzie instead of Wakefield (MacKenzie is his true family name), which causes all sorts of drama.

I love reading different parts of the plot from different characters’ points of view. Three out of the four of these work well. I don’t necessarily mind reading from Brianna’s point of view, I just don’t like her character. I suffer through her, because I still love Jamie and Claire and I like Roger.

 

 

Would I recommend it? I would recommend this book. I just can’t stop reading about the antics of Jamie and Claire, so I put up with Brianna for their sake. I like the fact that the author brought us out of Scotland and is showing us more of the world during this time.

 

 

About the book – from Goodreads: In this breathtaking novel—rich in history and adventure—The New York Times bestselling author Diana Gabaldon continues the story of Claire Randall and Jamie Fraser that began with the now-classic novel Outlander and continued in Dragonfly in Amber and Voyager. Once again spanning continents and centuries, Diana Gabaldon has created a work of sheer passion and brilliance….

It began at an ancient Scottish stone circle. There, a doorway, open to a select few, leads into the past—or the grave. Dr. Claire Randall survived the extraordinary passage, not once but twice.

Her first trip swept her into the arms of Jamie Fraser, an eighteenth-century Scot whose love for her became a legend—a tale of tragic passion that ended with her return to the present to bear his child. Her second journey, two decades later, brought them together again in the American colonies. But Claire had left someone behind in the twentieth century—their daughter, Brianna….

Now Brianna has made a disturbing discovery that sends her to the circle of stones and a terrifying leap into the unknown. In search of her mother and the father she has never met, she is risking her own future to try to change history … and to save their lives. But as Brianna plunges into an uncharted wilderness, a heartbreaking encounter may strand her forever in the past … or root her in the place she should be, where her heart and soul belong….

 

 

 

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** This post first appeared on Every Free Chance Books (everyfreechance.com) on March 5, 2018.